Originally prompted from this post. This is another update on what Oscar’s up to in the Brothers Together AU. In this short, he’s about 18 years old.
Oscar was almost ready to doze off, but he forced himself to stay alert. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down in such a precarious spot. Even now, the shadows on the nearest wall shifted and moved with the humans in the room, humans that were only steps away from his hiding place at the most.
He stood behind the TV, feeling the constant buzz of electricity while someone on the other side of it reported the weather for the afternoon. Dust piled up there, on the surface of the dresser where no one usually bothered to look. It gave Oscar a better view of the table nearby, but it wasn’t as safe.
He usually waited down on the floor, underneath the dresser. In all of the motel rooms, under the dresser was the safest place. He was out of sight, and even the maids never had occasion to look down there.
Today, though, was special. Even the humans kept it marked on all of their calendars.
Oscar didn’t understand what it meant or why they celebrated it, but Thanksgiving came without fail every late fall, and he’d learned to capitalize on it as much as he could. With winter looming close and snow on the ground outside already, he needed to stock up on as much food as he could. Thanksgiving and the holiday close on its heels, Christmas, were the best opportunities for Oscar to gather supplies for the cold months.
They meant food and lots of it.
Food like the arrangement sitting barely a foot away from him, a salad tray crammed onto what little space the TV left on the dresser. Cheese, crackers, cucumbers, and carrots were within view just from there, and he could have sworn he saw tomatoes.
Fresh things were a rarity in the Knight’s Inn. Oscar would have to eat them quicker if he managed to snag some, but they would be worth it. He could store almost everything but the cheese to make it last.
Of course, he couldn’t make it out there just yet. There was a pair of humans across the room, watching the weather report absently. They had yet to return the lid to the food tray after sampling from it, but they hadn’t left the food unattended either. If Oscar tried for it now, he’d be in their line of sight.
A shudder ran down his spine. Oscar had only ever been caught once, and he couldn’t afford to risk letting it happen again. Next time, he might not find himself in the grasp of the one friendly human he’d ever meet.
Dean Winchester was long gone. Oscar hadn’t seen him or his younger brother Sam in ten years. Back then, they’d been torn away from him before he had a chance to even try to follow. They were unique, and he’d let them slip away by sleeping in one morning.
He was grateful for one thing. Oscar had made it to eighteen years of age, and he still had a spark of hope in his heart. Ten years hadn’t quite erased them from his memory, and when he found himself in need of cheering up, he could imagine Sam wandering into the walls to visit him in his house. Talking to him while he worked on his sewing, or coaxing him out into the open to visit Dean.
They were his only friends in the whole world. Oscar couldn’t remember what they sounded like, and their faces had become hazier in his memory every year, but they were still there. They’d always be there.
The bed creaked somewhere beyond the TV and Oscar flinched. He almost missed one human voice asking “You almost ready to go?” as one of the humans stood up.
A sleepy mumble was the only reply, and Oscar took a moment to calm his startled heart while there was a rustle of bedcovers and another creak. From the look of the shadows on the wall, one human had stood. The other had flopped over on the bed entirely, too comfortable to go.
There was a heavy sigh, a voice tinged with annoyance that sounded so much scarier from a giant human. “Fine, a few more minutes, but once I get out of the bathroom we’re going. Your aunt hasn’t seen you since last year.”
Oscar waited for a reply, but none came. The human that spoke walked across the room, his shadow stalking along the wall. When the bathroom door clicked shut, Oscar took his cue.
He edged towards the side of the TV hastily. One surreptitious glance around it showed that another human had indeed buried themselves in the covers on the bed, an ornery stand against going anywhere for Thanksgiving. Why they’d want to avoid such a feast was beyond him, but Oscar didn’t question it. Instead, he darted out into the open.
Leaving a hiding place always came with a burst of adrenaline that threatened to steal his balance away. Oscar had to fight to keep focused, and he did by fixing his eyes on the food arrayed in front of him. He’d waited for the day all year.
He skidded to a halt at the edge of the sampler tray and immediately grabbed an entire cracker from the top of the pile. He knew the routine; they never missed stuff like this. His other hand was already dragging a baby carrot closer before he set his bag down to start loading it up.
He had a spare bag that he used for days like this. It was larger than his usual cloth sling, but not as easy to carry. He had more room to stuff the cracker and carrot inside, and then stand up for a small piece of cheese to go along with it. Oscar worked fast, never taking more than one of any kind of food on the tray from what he could reach. He even managed to tug free a few small sprouts from a tuft of broccoli.
Next, he threw the flap over the top of his hoard of food and hoisted it up. His cloth shoes scrambled against the dusty dresser top as he turned and darted back to his hiding place in time for the bathroom door to swing open once more. He’d made it.
Oscar grinned and imagined showing off his haul to his friends. Sharing Thanksgiving with someone would be nice for once, but Oscar only had his memories to join him at his table once again. Despite the loneliness that stretched out behind him and on forever in front of him, he was grateful at least for that.
I had to double check because I was certain I put Please on the list, but then it doesn’t really matter. I got an idea anyway.
AU: None of the current ones
A nightmare. This was a nightmare.
The sound of the worn plastic ice bucket slamming to the floor echoed in Oscar’s ears, and his eyes were wide with terror. A bruise was already forming on his forehead from slamming into a wall that hadn’t been there seconds before.
He was trapped. A human had spotted him while he ran desperately for cover in the motel room. They’d grabbed the ice bucket without a second thought, and in a few steps that covered distances Oscar would have to sprint for several seconds, stomped over to him.
The ground was still shaking. No, he realized, that’s just my knees.
Tears welled up in his eyes and raced down his cheeks. Oscar stood in carpet fibers that reached past his ankles, with almost no light leaking under the rim of the bucket. A circle of dim light ringed him in, an outline for how utterly trapped he was.
He hadn’t made it. After years of getting by on his own, keeping out of sight and collecting what he needed to survive, he hadn’t made it. It only took one failure to ruin everything, and the one failure had finally arrived.
Now, he was at the mercy of a human.
Light burst in from the opposite side of the container as it suddenly tilted upwards. Oscar whirled around, his cloth bag swinging with him and slamming into his side, heavy with the spoils he’d taken from the room. A breath caught in his throat and his shoulders hitched up with a new wave of adrenaline crashing through him like stormy waves on a rocky shore.
A hand with fingers bigger than his body slipped under the opening, blocking his escape route and inching towards him. Oscar could only watch, knees still shaking, as it came closer.
The first fingertip brushed against his chest and Oscar froze. Not an instant later, the hand lurched forward and that finger pressed into one side while a giant thumb closed in on the other, pinching around him and forcing the breath from his tiny, frail lungs. Oscar grimaced with pain.
More light washed over him now that he was secure in a pinch grip. The bucket was set aside and Oscar, stuck hopelessly in the casual strength of a single hand, shot into the air at the human’s whim. Air whipped at his messy brown hair and he closed his eyes, curling into himself as much as he could.
When he came to a stop, Oscar had his hands over his face. The human hummed thoughtfully, a deep, loud voice rumbling through his entire being. It was too much, too fast, too scary. Oscar sobbed and more tears came.
“Quit that,” the human ordered gruffly. Before Oscar could parse the words enough to understand that the order was for him, another pinch grip found him. Fingertips bigger than his head pinched roughly around one of his arms and tugged it away from his face.
He yelped in pain, and his other hand automatically braced against the pinch grip to try to free his arm. It was already bruising, he could tell. The human was too strong.
The human hummed again while Oscar sobbed, and then let go at last. Oscar held his hurt arm close to his chest, resisting the urge to cover his face again. Doing it once had gotten him hurt. He didn’t want to risk even worse consequences.
He dangled in the air like that for several seconds while the human looked him over, a cold and appraising look in those eyes. One fingertip nudged at one of his legs, propping it up to stare in disapproval at the cloth wraps he used for shoes. Then, it lifted up and mussed his mousey brown hair. Oscar squeaked in pain as it strained his neck.
“You’ll take some cleaning up,” the human noted, lifting Oscar higher. Oscar squealed with vertigo, finding himself now looking down at a huge human face, one that frowned at him like he was an interesting stone found on the ground.
Suddenly, a smirk appeared on the human’s lips. Oscar trembled at the sight of it and more tears coated his cheeks. He had never been seen by a human before, and now he understood why the idea scared him so much.
He was nothing to this man. He was just an object to pick up and observe, a toy. Nothing more.
Please …
A startled cry choked in his throat when the hand pinched around him dropped suddenly. Freefall wormed into his gut for a heartstopping second, and Oscar clung to the fingers around him despite the pain they caused in his ribs. His eyes shut tight for the brief moment.
Then it was over. The hand stopped moving, and then the grip around him relented.
Oscar landed in a heap on something hard and cold. The air escaped his lungs and he rolled over as motion assaulted him again. He looked upwards at a circular view of the ceiling, partially blocked by a human face peering in at him. The smell of cheap plastic surrounded him and he hiccuped.
He was in the ice bucket. Smooth sides that would resist any attempt to scramble up, the edge was over his head. With the human looking right at him, he wouldn’t have a chance to use his climbing thread to escape.
Not that it mattered. Once the human was finished walking, the bucket was dropped harshly onto what Oscar had to assume was the table. He jolted and then scrambled back, pressing against the wall of the container.
He didn’t know what the man had planned for him. It took him a second or two to find his voice.
“Please,” he managed to squeak out. Fear and despair coiled together in his tone, a hopeful appeal to the giant’s better nature.
All he got was another smirk. “Oh, you’ll be one of Mina’s favorites, I guarantee it,” he said, the cryptic words soaring over Oscar’s head.
Then, another circle loomed into view, and Oscar recognized the lid of the ice bucket just before it slammed into place overhead, echoing loudly in his ears and shutting him into total darkness.
That really depends on the little in question. For instance, Bree isn’t going to mind one bit. She’s used to contact with humans, and considers it completely normal. Oscar, on the other hand, has never really had close contact with humans and is always baffled when Dean insists on messing with his mousy hair.
Dean as a little will be completely offended that someone is messing with his spike, while Sam is resigned, considering how often Dean fluffs it into a mess. Dean’s way of saying you should really cut this.
Rural highways between small towns didn’t often see a lot of traffic, and this afternoon was no different. Jacob cruised along well past the speed limit, cutting through a flat landscape of yellow wheat fields and clusters of trees that only clung to half of their flame-colored leaves. The sky was an even mix of grey and blue, with the sun hiding its face behind a cluster of clouds. The afternoon was still bright, giving the world a warmer look than the autumn chill promised.
For Halloween, it definitely didn’t seem very spooky at all. Jacob smirked at the thought and found himself wondering about the real monsters out there, the ones Sam had told him about time and time again. Did they see the October holiday as a tribute, or an insult?
Either way, Jacob had a mission to mark the occasion somehow. Sam and Dean Winchester might be hunters with a self-assigned mission to hunt down the evil monsters out there, but even they needed a chance to relax once in a while. The day known for people running around in costume and pumpkins carved with goofy glowing grins was just an excuse. Jacob hadn’t seen any of the others in some time, anyway.
So, when Sam had gotten a hold of Dean’s phone to text him in an idle moment, Jacob hatched a plan. It was hasty, but up until that moment, he hadn’t made any plans whatsoever for Halloween. Now, as he drove his dark red Mercury down the deserted road with a plastic bag resting on the passenger seat, Jacob Andris had a self-assigned mission of his own.
He arrived in the small town Sam had mentioned in a text just under three hours after he set out earlier that day. It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, like an idyllic mirror image of his own small hometown back in Iowa. Jacob smiled faintly at the tidy jack-o-lantern arrangements on one porch, with a fall wreath on the door. It was almost like looking at his own house, decorated lovingly by his mom.
Most of the houses in the town had nice halloween decorations, some with big garish displays and others with more subtle nods to the holiday. Some families were already out walking around with their younger children, kids who would need to be in bed before the other trick-or-treaters headed out to raid their neighbors’ candy dishes.
Jacob wasn’t interested in the neighborhoods. In such a little town, it was easy to find what might be the only motel around. He didn’t stop a grin at the sight of proof that he’d found the place.
Pulling into the parking lot, Jacob found an open stall and glanced at the hulking black Chevy Impala parked outside one of the faded doors of the motel. A classic right out of the sixties and cared for like she was brand new, there was no mistaking Dean Winchester’s ride.
Jacob hurriedly gathered up his plastic bag of goodies and crossed the lot to the door guarded by that black-and-chrome car, noting the curtains drawn tightly closed. This had to be the right place.
Lifting a hand, Jacob knocked sharply on the door and waited.
Inside the room, there was a sharp contrast to all those homes celebrating Halloween. No spooky decorations hung, the tacky motel room wallpaper bright colors, the garish bedcovers a distinct clash. Dean Winchester sat at the only table in the room, his head resting on his arm while he watched a curious sight play out directly in front of him.
Two men, both able to fit in one of Dean’s hands, stood on his laptop. Dean’s younger brother, Sam, navigated the keys with growing confidence, occasionally shooting directions over his shoulder at Oscar as he sat by the touchpad. The smallest member of the group had his sewing equipment strewn across his lap, working at the microscopic threads whenever Sam didn’t need him navigating the screen of the laptop with the cursor.
Dean had to be careful to watch his breathing when Oscar was working so close by. He’d already been scolded once that night for nearly knocking Oscar’s needles from his grip. Sam and Oscar made a potent pair for scolds– Sam for the actual scolding and Oscar for the puppy eyes.
All in all, it was a fascinating scene to watch, and by the time knocking came on their door, Dean was zoned out.
Dean jerked up at the unexpected sound, and an annoyed “Hey ” drifted up at him from Sam’s position for bumping the table.
“Sorry,” Dean hissed at them under his breath, his eyes flashing between the door and the table. “Sit tight, guys.”
Dean stood, the two on his keyboard dropping away. Now, he could no longer make out the expressions on their faces as they looked up at him. No matter how many times Dean did this, he never got used to that. It was like jumping to the top of a building in seconds.
Pushing that thought out of his mind with determination to avoid any vertigo, Dean strode over to the door. There was an eyehole for him to peer through, and he did so. In his line of work, opening the door to the unknown could be dangerous.
The moment he saw who was out there, the suspicion faded.
“Jacob!” Dean greeted, swinging the door open as he recognized the overly-tall Greek kid Sam was fond of. Dean had to admit, having him around felt like adding another little brother to the family.
Jacob grinned back. With the door opened to him, he stepped into the room without wasting time outside. He knew that it was safest to have the door closed quickly when two vulnerable little guys like Oscar and Sam were around. They couldn’t afford for someone to catch even a glimpse of them, and Jacob made sure there was barely more than a second with the door open before he was out of the way.
“Hey, Dean,” he said back, offering a hand for the hunter to shake. “This is the closest you guys have been to Carlisle in a while, so I figured I’d make the trip.”
His eyes wandered over to the table, finding Sam and Oscar at the laptop. On the laptop, as it were. He offered them a grin, too. “Hey, guys!”
Oscar stared up at Jacob with wide eyes. The knock at the door, like most unexpected noises, had sent his heart rate right up. Seeing the friendly teenager put most of his nerves to rest right away, though he still clutched at the half-formed shirt he was sewing.
Jacob was tall. There was no getting around that. Oscar didn’t know him as well as he knew Dean, and even Dean could startle him sometimes.
He clutched his sewing close while he scrambled to his feet on the base of the laptop. The hard drive whirred away under his cloth-wrap shoes, sending warmth up into his soles. With two humans in the room, he made sure to hang on tight to his sewing needle so he wouldn’t lose it.
As Dean had heard before, they were very hard to make. Oscar needed the tiny shards of metal to do his sewing, and he needed his sewing to feel better about being out in the open like he and Sam tended to be most of the time.
“Um. Hi, Jacob,” Oscar tried, his voice thin from the lingering shock.
Sam didn’t show any trepidation for the new human, hopping eagerly down from the laptop so he could stride to the edge of the table. “Jacob!” he called eagerly, excited to see the teenager had been able to find them after all. “You got my message!”
Dean eyed his little brother up for a second before clasping Jacob’s arm and pulling him into a one-armed hug. “I see someone ran off with my phone again,” he said gamely, not upset in the least. And not surprised, either. Considering that his roommates were smaller than a finger, they did a good job of keeping him on his toes. Sam was particularly inventive and far more brash compared to Oscar.
“You weren’t using it! Figured I might as well!” Sam called from his place down on the table, eagerly awaiting his chance to see Jacob. They didn’t see him enough these days.
Jacob chuckled and shrugged at Dean as if to say what can you do? With his bag hanging on his wrist, he shoved his hands into the pocket of his faded orange hoodie, a trademark look for him. “Always good to hear from you guys. Sam keeps me up to date,” he quipped. It definitely wasn’t the first time Sam had sent him a text from Dean’s phone, and it wouldn’t stop anytime soon, either.
He stepped closer to the table on practiced steps, trying to keep his earth shaking to a minimum. He’d learned from Sam what kind of an impact he had, and now he also paid attention to Oscar, still rooted to the spot on the laptop.
One huge hand freed itself from the hoodie pocket and lowered to the table. Fingers the size of Sam’s body rested on the faux-wood surface, creating a bridge to his palm for Sam to use.
Sam didn’t show any of the same nerves as Oscar around the much-larger human in the room. He stepped onto the long fingers, walking one foot after the other like he was on a balance beam as he made his way to Jacob’s palm. Though normally he’d just scale right up to Jacob’s shoulder, he knew Jacob couldn’t see him up there so today he waited on the palm and gave him a thumbs up.
Dean chuckled at Oscar’s nerves, scooping up the smallest member of their group into his hands to ruffle his hair. “It’s just not fair Jacob’s the youngest and the tallest, ain’t it?” he asked rhetorically.
Oscar squeaked in surprise and tumbled over in Dean’s palm. He was used to Dean scooping him up swiftly, and the stomach-dropping feeling that came with it, but sometimes it still managed to startle him. He imagined Dean planned it when he could.
Jacob lifted his hand away from the table in a smooth, much slower motion and managed to shrug at the same time without jostling Sam. He’d had a lot of practice, even if it had been a while since he saw the small hunter. The feeling of tiny boots shifting minutely on his palm for balance was as familiar as ever. “I won’t deny, I got very lucky in the height department.”
While the cheerful voices rumbled around him, Oscar rolled over on Dean’s hand and hastily poked his sewing needle into the cloth for safe keeping. He huffed indignantly and bundled everything up to stuff in his bag before anything else. It wasn’t his fault that Jacob’s height always caught him off guard, but he imagined the teasing would probably never go away. It was Dean he was dealing with.
Despite his flustered start, Oscar felt better with him and Sam up at higher levels with the humans. “Lucky is a word for it,” he grumbled, brushing at his hair with tiny hands and trying to ignore the heat in his cheeks.
Dean grinned proudly at how flustered he’d made Oscar, glad to know he could still startle the little guy. No matter how many times they went through the same routine, he still had it.
Sam couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes at their antics. He still had a hard time believing how okay Oscar could be with Dean just plucking him randomly up. Dean or Jacob would get an earful from Sam if they tried that kind of shit with him.
“So what’d you bring?” Sam asked, putting his hands on Jacob’s thumb so he could lean over and peer down at the bag hanging from Jacob’s other wrist. He couldn’t hide the eagerness in his voice, wondering at what Jacob was up to.
Jacob grinned and lifted the bag up so he could set it on the table with a loud rustle. Now that no one was standing down there, he didn’t need to worry about accidentally burying them in the spoils of his quick stop at the store. With only one hand, he pulled the edges of the plastic bag down to reveal the contents.
That caught even Oscar’s attention, and it was his turn to lean forward. His hands braced against one of Dean’s fingers in a mirror of Sam and his eyebrows shot up. “‘Assorted Halloween candy’,” he read from the bright orange package Jacob had brought. “Oh, that’s today, huh? And what’s that underneath?”
Jacob smirked. He had predicted that Oscar would be drawn to the food right away. The guy might be extra little, but putting food in front of him always ran the risk of seeing a lot of it disappear into that little cloth bag.
He shoved the candy bag aside with another loud crackling of plastic to reveal a modest stack of DVDs. “Everywhere has some special going on for horror movies. I figure since it’s halloween, we could join in with the festivities… I know it’s probably a bit of a joke for guys who deal with monsters all the time, but hey,” he grinned hopefully, glancing to Sam for his reaction, “everyone needs a break now and then, right?”
“Any break that brings candy like that is welcome,” Dean said, thinking along the same lines as Oscar as he eyed up the huge bag of sweets.
“You better save plenty of chocolates for me!” Sam threatened as he saw Dean going for the bag of candy.
“Dude, I’m offended you have no faith in me,” Dean said in a mock-offended voice as he used a small knife to cut a hole in the bag. “Like I wouldn’t let you and Oscar have first dibs.” He smirked as he lowered Oscar to the table once more. Oscar and Sam together wouldn’t make a dent in the bag between them. “Better than trick or treating,” he said as he snatched a crunch bar from the bag.
Jacob chuckled, also lowering his hand to the table once more. Inwardly, he was very pleased that his idea had gone over so well with all three of them. “Probably true. Don’t even have to dress up for this,” he quipped.
Oscar glanced at the candy bar Dean had pilfered, soaring over his head, before looking back at the bag of candy. The opening made by Dean’s knife was wide enough for some of the assorted mix to spill out onto the table, and he could see the piles of sweets beyond it.
Unable to resist, he crept over to the bag on careful steps, ones that would be sneaky if two humans weren’t standing right there. He lifted an edge of the orange plastic to stare in at the piles of candy and then looked over his shoulder at Sam with a glint in his eye. “There’s definitely chocolate. I’ve never seen this much candy all in one place before!”
“That’s the whole point of Halloween!” Sam chirped happily as he jumped down from Jacob’s hand. He wasted no time on clambering up the bag as he already had what he wanted set in his mind. One of Sam’s great failings was his love of chocolate, and after losing his big stash, he took any opportunity to resupply.
The slick bag didn’t give Sam too much trouble as he made it to the opening in the bag, and he dove in with one particular candy wrapper in mind. “You’ve got to try some M&Ms!” Sam called over his shoulder, only his boots visible as he stretched for the brown wrapper.
Oscar’s eyebrows shot up and he inched closer, almost putting himself in the bag, too. Sam was quite a bit taller than him, and had a better reach into the treasure trove of sweets, but Oscar eyed his leather boots to make sure he wasn’t stuck in there. “What do the M’s stand for?” he asked. He’d always wondered how humans came up with some of the names for food. Even the ingredient lists were nearly incomprehensible.
Jacob chuckled and leaned down slightly to watch Sam’s efforts to dive right into the bag for his prize. “I don’t think it stands for anything, it’s just a chocolate covered in candy … You got that, Sam?” He reached down and nudged one of the tiny boots with a fingertip.
“I’m fine!” came the muffled reply as Sam tried to kick at Jacob’s fingertip, trying to keep the human from pulling him away from his treasure. “Just… gotta… reach… Aha!”
Dean huffed with laughter as he watched Sam try and back out of the bag, and found the shifting surface of the candy to be harder to get out of than he’d assumed. “Right, pint-size,” Dean snorted. “You’re fine.”
Lightly pinching one of Sam’s boots, Dean tugged his little brother out of the bag. Both of Sam’s hands were clutched around the brown foil of a regular M&M bag, and as Dean lifted him out of the bag, he held his other hand out below for when it slipped free of Sam’s grasp.
“Hey!” Sam complained, upside down and trying to stretch for his bag of candy. “Give it back!”
Dean rolled his eyes as he deposited Sam onto his palm next to the candy. “You should be thanking me,” he said as Sam scrambled to grab the bag.
Jacob chuckled again. Sam looked almost ready to fight someone for that bag of M&Ms. It was almost big enough for him to crawl into it. Soon enough, Sam’s silver knife would glint in the light and tear into the wrapping to free the colorful candy from the packaging. Jacob had seen the little guy break open M&Ms with that little blade many times before. Knocking them against the table didn’t work as well for him.
His eyes drifted back to Oscar, who stood near the opening in the bag surveying his options. Oscar was more timid with Jacob, but he took a chance anyway and reached down to nudge one of his tiny shoulders. He almost paused, noting just how big his entire hand looked to such a little guy.
“Still deciding?” he asked. “Or are you not hungry?”
Oscar turned his head to look up past the massive hand at Jacob’s face. “I’m just thinking,” he shot back indignantly. He hadn’t taken that long, and he didn’t want to dive in like Sam had anyway. They knew how well that had gone for him.
In the end, he stepped forward into the bag, his cloth foot wraps lending him some dexterity on the smooth but slanted terrain. He reached out to snag a cube-shaped confection wrapped in bright foil. The caramel smell wafting around it made his mouth water even as he hastily stumbled backwards out of the bag. “There, I got-” his assurance cut short as he fell to a seat on a KitKat bar that had fallen from the bag, as if waiting to trip him up.
Dean had to cover his mouth to hide his laughter. “You both need to work on your candy-snitching skills,” he chortled.
Sam clung to the bag of M&Ms as the hand he was on swayed midair from Dean’s laughter, thundering out of the chest so close by. Seconds later, Dean’s other hand swept Oscar, his caramel and the KitKat all out of the bag, and came to rest next to Sam’s.
Dean tilted his head for a moment, considering how he was going to get candy for himself, but before he could move either hand, Sam had squirmed his way into the hand with Oscar, sitting in the middle of all the candy to show off his find.
“You have to try one,” Sam informed Oscar as he ripped open the bag.
Dean shook his head, and picked up the bag of candy. “Well, I think we’re all ready for some movies with this haul,” he said to Jacob. “We can find out exactly how to not kill a werewolf tonight.”
Jacob nodded and picked up the first movie from the small pile. “Sounds good. Knowing the wrong way is still useful, right?” he quipped. Since Dean’s hands were full of candy and a couple of small candy thieves, he slid the laptop towards himself to pick it up on one hand. The screen still patiently showed the news site that Sam had been checking out before the interruption.
Oscar, for his part, was immersed in the sight of colorful candies revealed in the M&M bag. Smooth coatings of candy covered up the chocolate, but he could still smell it. He took a slow breath to appreciate the sweet aroma and smiled faintly.
“Werewolves or not, at least there’s food,” he said glibly. He retrieved a red M&M from the bag, running his fingers curiously over the faded white ’m’ printed on one side.
Dean smiled indulgently. “That’s all that matters, right?” he asked, conveying the pair in his hand over to the bed. Neither complained, too busy digging into the candy to pay him any mind. Jacob and Dean both already knew Sam and Oscar could get themselves over to the bed without a problem, so they had no need to prove themselves.
Dropping the bag of candy in the middle of the bed, Dean let Sam, Oscar and their stash slide off onto the cover, closer to the foot of the bed. This way, the humans could lay down flat on the bed to watch the laptop screen and be slightly-less towering during the movie.
Jacob followed the rest, setting the laptop down in front of the pile of candy and the two guarding it as gently as he could. The wide, flat base sank into the bed covers just enough that Jacob caught a glimpse of Oscar eyeing him warily before returning his focus to the candy he and Sam had claimed for themselves.
The disk drive clacked when Jacob pushed the button to open it up, and soon the DVD was placed in the shallow cradle. “Let’s see how the special effects are in the bargain bin werewolf flick,” he said, taking a seat on the end of the bed as slowly as he could. He didn’t want the mattress sinking under him too fast for Sam and Oscar to avoid tumbling.
Oscar noticed the changing landscape immediately, and shifted where he sat so his knees were drawn up closer. Jacob loomed without even trying, and Oscar found himself secretly glad he was closer to Dean’s side. The kid would take more getting used to. Sam had done it; Oscar would work it out.
“A werewolf movie can’t be as awful as a real werewolf.” He shuddered. How Dean had come to decide he liked hunting those things, Oscar might never guess.
“You have no idea,” Dean said pompously, reaching over to grab another Crunch bar. Sam eyed his fingers up while they were close by, zealously guarding the stash he and Oscar were sharing.
“These movies don’t know what werewolves look like at all.” Dean tore through the package of his chocolate and popped it in his mouth, talking through the snack. “All the fur, making them look like actual wolves,” he waved his hand around dismissively as he had to actually stop talking to swallow.
Sam gave Dean a look for his overenthusiastic replies and lacking table manners. Jacob was much better behaved than that. “Tell us about it,” Sam said, breaking into his first M&M.
“You’ll have to keep a running tally of the mistakes, Dean,” Jacob chimed in. He finally claimed something of his own from the pile, keeping his hand well away from Sam and Oscar (as much as he could with them sitting so close to the bag). Oscar was still skittish, and Jacob knew very well not to get in the way of Sam and chocolate when he’d managed to claim some.
A mini packet of Starburst lifted away from the hoard of candies while the computer fans started up in earnest, preparing to start rolling the movie. “Lemme hit the lights. Gotta at least try to make it scary or its just not Halloween.”
Oscar opened his mouth to argue that they didn’t need things to be scary, but Jacob was already standing. Back to his huge full height, it was a simple matter for him to cross to the switch and kill the lights. Oscar blinked in surprise and the computer screen glared brightly at them all.
Sam nudged Oscar with an elbow as he bit into his M&M. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” he avowed with a gleam in his eyes, the light from the laptop giving him plenty of light to see Oscar with.
“And I’ll protect you both,” Dean joked, dropping a hand over Sam and Oscar to form a cave over their heads. Not restraining them at all, but letting them feel briefly secure in an enclosed space. At least, until Sam punched at the hand to get him to lay off.
Oscar huffed, but didn’t join in trying to shoo Dean’s hand away. He was just glad that, with the lights switched off, no one but Sam could possibly see the blushing in his cheeks yet again, and set to peeling away the wrapper of the caramel he’d claimed. They had a cinema-sized screen to view, and it was already loading up the DVD’s menu.
Jacob settled himself on the bed at last, joining the group. The way they had things set up, he was far too tall to fit completely, but he managed to scrunch himself into place, all with as few earthquakes as he could. He saw only a few accusing glances shot his way, so he considered it a win and settled down with his arms folded so he could rest his chin. “Keep it down, guys, the movie is gonna start.” This time, when he reached over their heads to tap the touchpad and get things going, he nudged at Sam’s shoulder.
Sam halfheartedly tried to push Jacob away, but there was no annoyance in the gesture. “Like you can’t hear it over us,” he shot back, knowing their voices could be almost too quiet to hear at times.
The beginning began to play, and they all watched avidly. When Sam glanced around the room, he could see the rapt attention in Dean’s eyes, who, no matter how many times he disavowed cheesy horror flicks, still seemed to get a kick out of them. The laptop screen reflected in the large green eyes that were bigger than Sam and Oscar’s heads as the first kill of the movie took place.
Then, the expected critique from Dean started to flow.
“See? When have we ever seen a werewolf run like that?
“Dude, he’s got enough hair to be any barbers dream.”
“One silver bullet! Is that so much to ask for!”
Jacob snickered along with the critique. Occasionally he would chime in with his own comments, and it served to egg Dean on. It was like throwing gas on a flame, and Dean provided nearly as much entertainment as the movie did with its campy storyline and effects.
A faint crackle of plastic drew his attention and Jacob’s eyes drifted away from the laptop screen. The flickering light from the movie illuminated a tiny figure rooting through the candies piled on the bed. Oscar.
The little guy moved cautiously to push aside various wrapped up candy. The light was at his back, rendering his face impossible to see, but Jacob pictured the thoughtful determination there. He smirked when Oscar stooped and made his selection, hoisting an individually wrapped gummy candy in his skinny little arms.
The speakers emitted a loud, shrill scream as the movie monster cornered a young woman, and Jacob noticed a squeak as Oscar flinched. The candy dropped to the covers again and those little feet stumbled back towards Sam to sink down next to him. Jacob could have sworn he saw little knees wobbling.
Moving slowly, Jacob tilted his head and reached out to push the abandoned candy over to the other two. It bumped up against Oscar, who looked around in shock before seeing what happened. “Ah … thanks,” he muttered.
Sam grinned up at Jacob, glad to see him helping Oscar out, maybe even starting to overcome the huge size difference between the pair. Oscar was so timid around Jacob, but not with Dean, and Sam would never be able to figure out why.
Dean missed all the subtext going on next to him. Eyes glued to the screen, he groped blindly for another piece of candy. Trying to avoid Dean’s oblivious motion, Sam shoved the KitKat towards his brother’s huge fingers. The hand flinched slightly at the motion, but quickly curled around the candy. Sam swore his older brother didn’t even look at what he was unwrapping as he remained fixated on the movie.
“Dude! Did you see that, Sammy?” Yup, Dean was hooked. “If they had any idea what they were doing, they’d never split up here!”
Sam couldn’t resist a “So, you’re saying next time you run off on your own in a case, you’re just asking for trouble?” to egg Dean on, remembering exactly how that had gone for Dean, and not in his favor.
Dean gave Sam an offended look in return. “You have no faith,” he complained.
It was Oscar’s turn to send Dean a look. He remembered just as well as any of them how stressful it was when Dean decided to go off on his own. Oscar had faced many terrifying things since he joined up with the ornery hunter, but he preferred that to waiting back and not knowing if Dean would make it back through the door in one piece.
“We’ve got plenty of faith,” he said with a much bigger attitude than his body. He strained at the plastic of his claimed candy, trying his best to break in and get at the gummy inside. “Faith that you’ll find trouble when you go lookin‘ for it.”
Dean rolled his eyes with a scoff. “That was one time! ” he defended himself obstinately.
Taking pity on Oscar’s mighty efforts, Dean pinched the gummy out of his hands and tore open the package. He didn’t like leaving his friends to struggle when they didn’t need to, though he rarely got away with helping them. For all their size was smaller than a finger, they were completely independent.
Dean carefully pushed the gummy back into Oscar’s arms as he turned back to the movie.
Oscar nearly fumbled the package of the candy and frowned. His cheeks warmed with the realization that it had somehow taken two humans to help him get to the candy he’d chosen on a whim. He had almost had it open himself. He might have said so, but the music in the movie became louder and drew his attention.
He tugged the gummy candy out of the wrapper at last. Thankfully, it was worth all the trouble he’d gone through to get it, and all the embarrassment too. At least the humans on either side were nice. Even Jacob, he had to admit. He’d heard several times from Sam how gentle the teen could be, and saw more examples of it just tonight.
Jacob watched the characters on screen wander themselves into trouble, courtesy of them splitting up. Dean was completely right. A raspy wolf how sound effect crackled in the speakers, and he smirked, remembering how Dean had even had something to say about that the first time it happened.
He shifted so he rested his cheek on his arms, relaxing. His heart warmed at the sight of Sam and Oscar both sitting there surrounded by their own weight in candy, eyes glued to the screen. The road trip out to the motel was long, but without a doubt it was worth making the night more than just another Halloween.
Despite the tension between the others, Sam burst out into a grin. “You’re our size!” he blurted in surprise. He was thrilled to know that there were others like them out in the world, and they weren’t just in Haven.
Oscar wasn’t aware that his eyes could get even wider. But the other person approached and they definitely did. He glanced back and forth between the pair. This second guy, with longer hair, was a whole four inches tall. The one with the hooded jacket wasn’t far behind, either. These guys were enormous.
Am I? Am I your size?! he wanted to say. But Oscar’s hands were still clamped firmly over his mouth to prevent any noises of alarm from escaping him. This was exactly the last thing he wanted to happen.
Dean is pretty scary. Jacob’s handling the situation pretty well, all things considered. Gotta remember that Dean’s a hardened hunter, and even on the show he tends to stray towards playing it safe. Jacob might look harmless but looks are very often deceiving!
Anyway, I couldn’t resist writing out a little something for this question…
The vase settled around Oscar with a hollow, resounding thunk. The heavy finality of it chilled him to the core, and he froze in shock for a full second.
He was trapped.
He was trapped, by a human.
“Oh,” he muttered, a sound more like a whimper and barely on the edge of hearing. His shoulders bunched up and he stared at the cloth bag on the other side of the glass. It was so easy for the human to take it from him. It was so easy for the human to take him, to keep him from running away.
There would be no chance of moving the vase. Oscar was stuck until the gruff, green-eyed giant decided otherwise.
All the stories he’d ever heard about humans said that would never happen. Oscar was claimed and if the human didn’t kill him in anger for his sneaking around and taking food, then he would keep Oscar trapped forever. He’d be grabbed up whenever the human felt like it, just an object of amusement.
Oscar found himself shuffling backwards, his cloth shoes easily sliding along the tabletop. He only stopped when his back pressed against the cold glass behind him, and then he slid weakly to a seat. He stared at the human for a second longer before his lips trembled.
Then, in an effort to block the situation out, Oscar ducked his head and curled up into as small of a ball as he could. His skinny little arms covered his head, and he began to sob quietly.
An update on how little Oscar is doing. In this short, he is around 16 years old.
“So that’s why I haven’t seen you in a few days,” Oscar remarked quietly. He couldn’t help but smile at the sight before him, and he was relieved. He had worried his friend might have gotten snapped in a trap somewhere in the dusty corners of the motel, only to be thrown out with the trash.
The truth was wriggling around in the fluffy nest of fur, lint, sawdust, and scraps of string. Oscar heard the muffled squeaking and inched forward to get a closer look. The mouse he knew, a descendant of the first mouse he ever met, squeaked in greeting and twitched her nose at him like Rita long before her so often did. Oscar held out a hand and let her nuzzle his arm with ticklish whiskers.
Once he’d said hello to their mother, Oscar couldn’t resist sitting down at the edge of the nest to greet the new arrivals. The mouse pups noticed him and crawled closer, their little noses poking out of the surrounding fluff before they emerged further.
They only had soft fuzz all over their bodies, rather than a full coat. Oscar brushed a gentle hand over ears that hadn’t even fully rounded yet and tiny backs that were so fragile he could feel their rapid heartbeats. The pups squeaked quietly, sniffing avidly though they couldn’t yet see him.
Oscar’s scent, after their mother’s, would be one of the first things they ever knew.
“Four pups,” he counted softly with a grin. Four new residents of the Knight’s Inn motel. Two of them at the most would stay once they were adults, he guessed. The mice didn’t crowd themselves in, simply because of resources.
Oscar had learned a lot about the habits of mice over the years. At sixteen, he’d known mice longer than he’d gotten to know his mother.
One of the pups had grey markings on her pink skin where her fur would be darker than the usual tan. She squirmed her way closer until she tumbled onto Oscar’s lap, her stumpy tail twitching back and forth and her tiny paws searching for purchase.
“Oops,” Oscar said with a chuckle. He picked up the little mouse, not even an inch long, and shifted her over so she was upright with her front paws on his leg in case she wanted to wander off of him again. Instead, she poked her little nose at his side before settling down with a tired squeak.
She was just in time for her brother to crawl into Oscar’s lap after her, and Oscar had to laugh. “You pups will overrun me,” he told them. Their mother squeaked and sniffed at Oscar’s face, tickling him with her whiskers. As he had with her when she was just a new pup, he was proving to be a very good babysitter.
In no time at all, Oscar had three mouse pups crowded onto his lap while the fourth rested in his arms. Every chance he got, Oscar tried to meet the mice as early as he could after litters were born. They imprinted on him, learning his scent, and he welcomed his new neighbors. Oscar rubbed behind their soft little ears, for a moment letting himself feel peaceful as the new baby mice rested on him.
Brothers Apart 